


Star-Crossed

by Hexametaphosphate



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern, Alternate Universe - Vampires, Eventual Smut, F/M, M/M, potty-mouthed Levi monologues, surprise plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-04 02:17:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hexametaphosphate/pseuds/Hexametaphosphate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stars have never spelled a truly desirable fate for Eren Yeager. Barely ten years old, Eren and his adopted sister, Mikasa, witnessed the awful fate of their mother through terrified eyes. Their absent father— missing ever since— left them no choice but to be taken in by Hannes, their honorary uncle and a (not so) respected priest of the Dark Order's Garrison division. </p><p>Years laters, Eren and Mikasa follow in Hannes' footsteps, opting instead for the Recon division's more direct involvement in eradicating supernatural dangers from human kind— for Eren, a choice made by his insatiable hunger for revenge against the vampires painted red in his mother's blood. The opportunity to strike is within Eren's grasp shortly after he earns his title as priest; not particularly known for his self-control or patience, he siezes it without question. </p><p>The outcome is one no one— not even the stars, foresaw.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

You can't see the stars in the city. The bright lights from the tall skyscrapers made that an indisputable fact. Whenever Eren had the pleasure of venturing into the outlying countryside he took the time to savor the night sky. Along the way his gaze would wander past the yellow and white lines and pavement, past the horizon, to the near-perfect black above. A child-like wonder never ceased to capture his heart in their presence. It reminded him of good things— bad things too, but he suppressed those in favor of preserving the only sweet memories he had of his late mother. The stars were her favorite too.

Three hours outside of the city and the pavement turned to chip seal. Another turn forty miles later and chip seal gave way to gravel. The further he drove and the closer the trees hugged the road. In the midst of a bitter winter they seemed more ominous than his memories would have liked to recall. The further he drove and the deeper the innocent child inside of him hid.

Gravel turned to dirt when the line of trees widened and thinned. In the distance stood an all-too-familiar house. The house of his mother's dreams. Or rather, the bones left behind. The house was no longer a heart-warming sight, but instead a dark presence looming on the horizon. Its new inhabitants had baptized its aura in blood and tainted it beyond recognition, and even the powerful priests who taught Eren couldn't reverse it.

 _This isn't going to fix it, but it's a start,_ Eren reassured himself, his grip flexing around the steering wheel as he drove off the side of the road to park behind a cluster of trees three hundred yards away from the house. The engine died with a shudder and Eren steeled himself with a deep breath; eyes closed, he cleared his spiritual center of distractions. A moment later he glanced at his watch and hurried out of the car, carrying the bag he'd haphazardly thrown into the passenger seat when he left.

Time was running out.

There was almost never a good time to scope out a good location. Thousands of years living side by side with access to the same knowledge, techniques, and technology, vampires had evolved alongside humans. They were just as smart, if not smarter. The house was never empty, never not guarded. But Eren knew this place like the back of his hand. This was where the Master of the City hid during crises and holy dates, information known only by his chain of command and the familiars that guarded it— until recently when Eren had overheard a conversation he wasn't supposed to hear. Normally, it was impossible to get this close without being slaughtered, or more likely than that, tortured until one's body, mind, and soul simply gave up. The winter solstice was a holy day, considered by some a festival of the sun; _they_ were here, unaware of Eren's presence. A priest newly assigned his title such as Eren couldn't possibly pull this sort of stunt without subjecting himself to a horrible fate at the hands of the Master; forbidden Inca spells, however, changed that.

It took three goats to properly cast the spell strong enough to cloak both himself and his vehicle. That was the only choice he had, if he ever wanted to get this close and stay alive, and maybe even live afterwards if he was exceptionally lucky. Not that the idea of his death concerned him. So long as he got his revenge he'd happily die afterwards. Hannes might even be the one to deliver his death; as much of a drunk he was, he was still a much better priest than any of the others addressed as the Dark Order's foot soldiers. He was strong enough to be the successor of the current commanding priest of the Garrison division. The older Eren got and the greater he began to respect Hannes' affinity for alcohol and the camouflage it provided.

"Drunken genius," Eren muttered under his breath as he fit the pieces of his tactical rifle together.

Affectionately named Carla, the weapon was apt enough for the job. After hours spent with Armin and Marco the modifications they'd pieced together nearly made it too deadly for even the Dark Order to approve its use. One of a kind, more dangerous than anything the organization had ever encountered in its centuries-long history, this gun would surely do the trick. What Eren lacked in skill, Carla would make up for with infallible accuracy.

Eren settled into the frosted grass and slid into place with all the knowledge of a military sniper, concentrated on the small window of his laser sight.

_Knyhd sa dra bufan du caa, U Munt, nahtan brocelym luhcdnildc icamacc cu dryd E syo cipzald ymm Ajem du dnia tyshydeuh._

The familiar words rang softly in his ears though he recited them silently. Ancient magic warmed his limbs as a sixth sense surfaced. An incantation to see beyond physical means that made the walls of the house virtually useless. He felt those present within the house almost as if he were in the same room.

_There. That's... the only one?_

Eren's focus scattered, losing touch with his temporary sixth sense. He steeled his nerves once more and concentrated until he felt that aura again. He followed it with the laser sight as it moved from one room to another. _Mine and Mikasa's room, the hallway, mother and father's room._ Each second seemed to drag on endlessly, Eren's heart pounding loudly in his ears. It pounded so loudly that his metaphysical sight began to flicker in and out. The pound became a roar the closer the aura moved towards the eastern side of the house— the side Eren faced.

_"'Sometimes,'" Armin began, momentarily peeking over the book's edge at a very tired Eren on the verge of sleep, "'this sixth sense will not work properly. In the presence of great opposing power the aura becomes lost in preternatural static, often signified by a loud roaring sound in the ears.'"_

Deafening silence.

_"Eren, are you listening?" Armin added firmly, raising his voice in hopes of stirring the half-asleep boy across from him. "This is really important... Eren."_

"Eren, are you listening?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, Hex, start a new long term project. That'll help you write the second chapter for The Order Of Things. It's rather frustrating, since about 70% of the story is in my head, but writing it down is proving to be rather difficult. I'm still attempting to write it down, though I might sooner post a back story about Levi's college years, how he met Erwin, and how he ended up a guidance counselor. So there's that.
> 
> Anyways, I read an amazing fan fiction a long time ago that's stuck with me ever since and I've always wanted to do something as a kind of tribute? (You can find it [here](http://spanderfiles.com/arvs/perverted_pages/pl/puppy.html), lots of the hots here.) But also I just wanted to write a story with vampire!Levi because reasons. I turned the military aspect of SNK into an organization of 'priests' (really just a fancy name for hunters), named the Dark Order because of it's, well, dark purpose of killing things that go bump in the night. I might explain it in more detail as the story goes on, or if the story veers off into a direction where it doesn't fit well into the narrative I guess I'll explain it in later notes or a post on tumblr or something. Speaking of which, my tumblr is whoa-taku. Wink wink nudge nudge.
> 
> As for the incantation Eren recites, I'm being lazy and translating English into Al Bhed because it's relatively easy to get an accurate translation (I mean we're just shifting letters around, no need to fuss with Google Translate's not-so-accurate translations) and I don't have to make up my own gibberish non-sense.
> 
> Nothing else seems too crucial to note at this point, so I guess sit tight and enjoy the ride? And oh, yes, there will be smut. Feedback is always lovely.


	2. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren finds himself in a predicament, and the Master of the City has a potty mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Made a decision (between chapter five and six) to write all of this (except the prologue) in first person. Feels better to write it all that way. Dunno when exactly I'll get it done, but it won't change the story at all so feel free to read anyways. Or wait if you'd like. Got a job now so I may not have a lot of time to focus on it too much. But! I will try, because I'm super stoked for this story. **

Dark. Everything's dark. Hopelessly, lifelessly dark. A night sky with no stars, no light from a new moon.

_"Do you think father will come home soon?"_

_A very cranky Eren sits at the edge of the kitchen island, swinging his feet and clutching his favorite action hero in his hands. Carla stands beside him, making quick work of an onion with a large knife when she answers, "Yes, he'll be home in time for dinner."_

_She glances at Eren, his brow furrowed and giving him an exceptionally rage-filled look for a ten year old boy. It only makes her smile. Carla takes hold of his cheek in a firm pinch, earning a surprised yelp from the boy. "Don't make that face all the time or you'll be stuck looking like that forever, Eren."_

_Eren huffs and swats his mother's hand away._

_"Your smile is too precious for that."_

_Eren turns red with the effort he exerts in trying not to smile at that, turning away. "Whatever," he mutters under his breath, listening to the comforting sound of the knife falling against the cutting board once again._

For a moment the darkness lifts, but it's not much of an improvement. The floor is cold and rough, and little rocks stick to his cheek. Eren's brow furrows as he concentrates on regaining consciousness like Hannes taught him, but it's _so_ hard, and the darkness is waiting eagerly to swoop down again. He can't open his eyes yet but his sixth sense is still there. The aura from before is gone and he's alone. Something about that makes the darkness stronger, makes it wrap its tendrils around him again. Eren knows it's not a good idea to succumb, that presence could return any moment, but it's warmer than the cold ground.

_"You can't forget this." He pauses for effect. "Eren, do you understand?"_

_He's crouching before the small teary-eyed boy, gripping just a little too tightly at Eren's shoulders. Eren wipes at his snotty nose and sniffles, wishing he could be a big boy and not cry at all._

_"A day will come when the time is right."_

A chill settles in Eren's bones and he stirs, shifting on the hard ground with a groan of complaint. His eyes flutter open and his sight is unfocused and blurry. When he tries to move his hands to rub them clear the ice cold shackles at his wrists prevent it. Blinking a few times, a figure comes into view. Small, crouched maybe a foot or two off the ground in a... chair? A blur of black and white. He shuts his eyes at the pain that jolts through his head.

_"The worst thing you can do is let yourself get caught," Erwin explains._

_Mikasa doesn't have to look to know that Eren's falling asleep. His study sessions with Armin would help, but only if he could stay awake in class too. An elbow in his ribs jolts the exhausted boy awake, and Erwin only takes a moment to glance in his direction._

_"You are a source of information, nutrition, and even worse, entertainment to these creatures. Rarely are captured priests returned in any condition suitable for living afterwards. The last one who returned is currently rotting away in an asylum. You would do best to never interact more than what's necessary to finish a task."_

_Eren's certainly awake now. He rubs at his eyes, sitting straight in his seat._

_"All priests are required to undergo a procedure so that if a situation does go awry, you are provided with a swift solution to being captured and imprisoned. Never speak of it outside of this hall or the doctor's office. It is the most well kept secret of the Order, and the one most vital to keeping the Order safe while also preventing unnecessary casualties of priests. The exact details of the procedure will be outlined by Hange tomorrow, and it is the only day we'll go over it, so do not be late."_

The darkness suddenly vanishes. Eren wakes again, still on the same cold, dirty floor. There's an uncomfortable bump at his side and when he turns to lie on his back pain fills the base of his skull. " _Fuck,_ " he hisses under his breath. Everything else hurts too, a dull, aching sensation in every limb.

"You humans sleep for fucking ever."

Eren froze.

"Oh come on, don't clam up on me now. You're not dead yet, are you?"

"What gives you the right?" Rage wells up from Eren's center and he sits up from the floor with a fair bit of struggle, ignoring the searing pain at the nape of his neck.

"Oh, I don't know." The blurry figure he'd seen earlier was clear as day now, sitting before him in a chair with one leg crossed and the other bent with his socked toes curling around the edge. "Maybe the fact that I'm the fucking vampire whose land you decided to so rudely trespass under the guise of forbidden dark magic, heavily armed with a weapon that could easily be the end of me if you weren't such a fucking imbecile?"

_He looks harmless, adolescent even. Is he really—?_

"Don't fucking look at me like that, brat. I know what you're thinking. Yes, I'm the Master of the fucking City."

Eren exhales heavily, processing the information along with the visuals. This was him. The big, bad, terrible Master of the City was him. "You're not what I expected at all. And get the fuck out of my head."

The man before him scoffs, hugging bare arms around his bent leg as his dark eyes bore holes into Eren. "Yeah, you aren't what I expected either, kid. I thought Hannes was stupid enough to come back for me but it's just you, the shitty snot-nosed brat he took in ten years ago." Eren clenches his teeth at the remark but the look in the Master's eyes silences his lips before they even dare to move. "I'm going to assume you're acting on your own accord for the time being. And, for your information, I'm not inside of your head. I tried while you were falling in and out of consciousness and it's nothing but garbage to me. I can't get any good shit out of you."

Relieved, Eren relaxes from his crouching stance. He closes his eyes and breathes in slowly through his nose, trying to calm his heart beat in hopes that it would make the pain in his head more bearable.

"Would you happen to know why I can't do that?" He perks up again, meeting the dull expression on the Master's face with a fair bit of confusion. "You don't know anything, then, about how difficult your mind is to read. How peculiar. Your face does a lot of the talking though, that's good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eren mutters, reminded of his restraints as the urge to cover his face surfaced.

The Master rolls his eyes, shifting in his seat and letting his feet fall towards the the floor. "You sure are fucking dense, maybe I'll let you go sooner so you don't drive me fucking insane." He pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a heavy sigh, standing to leave. "I'm going to take some time to gather my thoughts before I decide you'd be much more intelligent company if your brains were splattered on the concrete. I'll have someone come down and take care of that pain you're in, and maybe if you don't dumb them to death I'll come back with something to make your stay a little more comfortable."

And then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I prefer writing longer chapters but maybe that's my issue with these long term things. So I'm gonna post these chapters even if they're not quite as long as I ideally want them to be. Anyways I hate writing dialogue and second guess myself a lot but here goes folks. Give it to me straight, yeah?


	3. Collar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some questions are answered, even more are raised, and Petra's an adorable human servant. Wait, how the _hell_ did that foul-mouthed Master ever manage to score that?

"Eren?"

In the midst of a sleep filled with strange dreams Eren rolls over, expecting a face full of pillow; the shock of cold concrete makes his eyes flutter open in surprise. It takes a few moments before he remembers where he is. Not that he really knows where exactly he is. A room underneath the house he'd never seen— maybe the basement his father never let anyone else in— was all he could gather in the fleeting moment when he woke and the spell he'd uttered before being captured still worked. He thinks this would be a perfect time to use something, anything, that might help him escape, but the sharp pain deciding to pierce through his skull right then makes it impossible.

"Eren, are you awake?"

The sweet voice nearly startles him. Across the dimly lit room is a staircase, and a figure standing at the base. He licks his dry lips, realizing just how thirsty he is. "Yeah, if this isn't some terrible nightmare."

"Good," she sighs, managing to look visibly relieved even in the poor light of the basement. When she crosses the room to kneel at Eren's side there's a soft smile on her lips and it puts him at ease. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she adds gently, "Levi sent me to take care of you. How are you feeling? Do you remember the last time you ate or drank anything?"

"Like shit." Her smile turns into a frown when she presses the back of her hand to Eren's forehead and something about it makes Eren feel the need to placate her. "I've felt worse. Swine flu's no joke. I don't even know how long I've been here, but I ate and drank something on the way here."

"I apologize for Levi's neglect," she murmurs, disapproval clear on her features. "He's lost touch with his humanity and I've only been his human servant for a few years. He's not used to taking care of mortals. Ah, by the way, I'm Petra."

 _Petra._ At first glance she seems fragile, but there's no such thing as a fragile human servant. Maybe before she received Levi's mark she was but that doesn't matter now. The strawberry blonde hair framing her face looks unbelievably soft, and makes Eren painfully more aware of how terrible a bed the concrete floor is.

"Can you sit up?" Eren pushes himself up in response, slouching in exhaustion. "Take these," Petra instructs him, retrieving two pills from a bottle already in her hand, putting them in Eren's now open palm. She gives him a bottle of water next and he swallows them down, greedily chugging the rest of its contents without pause. "They're mild pain killers and it should make the pain you feel lessen within the next twelve hours. You've already been here for nearly two days."

He chokes then, coughing up the last gulp of water. "Two days?" he asks in disbelief, wiping at his mouth. "How have I been so out of it? What the hell did Levi do?" _And why did I take those pills without even asking to see the bottle or something? I didn't even fucking wait for an explanation. Maybe the Master— Levi, was right. I'm lucky I'm not dead._

Petra smiles wearily, worrying at Eren's messy bangs in a way that reminds him of his mother. "Only what was necessary. Levi's not as bad as the last Master of the City, he's rather sweet if you're on his good side. The sun has just set so he's on his way back from the city, he returned after the night he captured you. When he came back the next night— last night, he said you two spoke, but only briefly," her smile widened, amusement sparkling in her eyes, "seeing as he was rather irritated by you."

"Yeah," he mutters quietly, turning his head to the side and raising his still-shackled hands to rub at his sore neck.

"I'm fixing something to eat. It'll be another thirty minutes, but I have a protein bar you should snack on right now." Petra reaches into the small bag she'd brought in with her at her side and places it next to Eren. "I finally turned the heat on for the basement so you should be feeling warmer soon, but I don't think Levi will mind if I bring you a blanket. Oh!" She stops suddenly, digging in her bag once more. Eren watches as she procures a... collar?

"Wait, what's that for?" he hurriedly asks, his eyes widening to the size of plates.

Petra smiles sweetly again and it disarms Eren; before he knows it the leather strap is fastened around his neck. "Cautionary measures. That pain you've been feeling in your head? That was to prevent you from clearing your spiritual center, so that you couldn't harm Levi, or any of the rest of us, with offensive incantations. But it was a temporary fix; he's not cruel enough to let you wallow around in misery, and this magicked collar does the same thing without causing discomfort. Is it too tight?"

"Whoa, hold up..." Eren pauses, momentarily at a loss for words as he rubs his fingers against the smooth strip encircling his neck. "That asshole bashed me in the head when he could just have just given me one of these things? Wait, why the fuck am I getting a collar? If Levi's such a _kind_ and _wonderful_ Master, why is he holding me hostage?"

The woman chews at her bottom lip and glances away, then sighs before answering. "Can you blame him? You came here to murder him, did you not? As for why he's keeping you here, I can't answer that. You'll have to ask him when he comes down to speak to you again. He doesn't let me anywhere near his thoughts."

The tension that had suddenly built up in Eren's frame lessened, but there was still a nagging sensation tugging at his insides. He was confused. The Order painted all vampires to be soulless, evil creatures who had no morals. This wasn't the kind of situation they prepared him for— at least, not exactly.

As if sensing his thoughts Petra speaks up, drawing Eren out of his head again. "I know what kind of things the Dark Order has told you about vampires and the likes of us who live with them. They're not wrong, of course, but sometimes they aren't right either. Humans can be evil too, yeah?"

Eren had no response for that, and Petra could tell. She gave another small smile and smoothed her delicate hands over her legs before standing up straight. "I'll go check on the food."

Five minutes after Petra leaves, rage builds inside of him. She had been using her wiles to keep him calm while they spoke. That strange sense of comfort he felt in her presence was forced. Well, maybe not entirely. Maybe she was just that pleasant, and maybe being a human servant didn't negate that sort of thing. But he felt the lingering effects of her sweet powers and he loathed himself for being so easy to fool. Suddenly he began to wish he'd talked to Armin, or even Mikasa, before making such a rash decision. At the very least Mikasa would have come with him.

_No, Levi would have still captured us. At least this way it's just me._

He lets out a frustrated sigh and moves closer to the nearby wall, the farthest from the stairs, the chains just long enough let him lean up against it. Petra did turn on the heat, though. Eren was still chilled to the bone but one of the vents was above him and the hum of hot air flowing through filled his ears.

For a moment he thinks of the only emergency escape plan he has, but the price is too high to pay if he hasn't gotten his revenge, and maybe he can believe what Petra says. Maybe he's not going to die by the Master's hands, maybe he won't be tortured. The thought makes Eren laugh because it seems so surreal. He digs in his pocket for the protein bar he'd pocketed right after Petra left when his stomach growls and reminds him of how terribly empty it is.

_Nothing to do now but wait._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to get on the "If you don't love Petra you're wrong" band wagon. I'm really excited about introducing Petra because reasons. I'll let you all in a little secret: there really was no actual plot at the beginning (well kind of but it was only sort of there because the focus was gonna be on the smut buuut then the plot happened in my head and now it's too wonderful). And the further I dive into this the more the plot thickens. How am I doing with dialogue? Is it actually good? I think I did good. Great job for writing three chapters in the span of twenty-four hours, Hex.


	4. Stray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of situations Levi is prepared to deal with. Unfortunately, this is not one of them.

_Levi_

Vampire politics are fucking dreadful. There's nothing worse than a council of bickering walking corpses whose decisions are based more on the proportion of their territory in relation to their ego, which is almost always shooting through the fucking atmosphere and into space. Once you get past a few centuries of being above nearly everything around you— living or dead— it really gets to your head. Becoming the Master of the City wasn't what I had in mind for myself, I had no interest in being so intimately involved with the Council and I mean abso-fucking-lutely none, but as some might say, the stars willed it.

Fucking stupid turn of phrase anyways, stars are far more dead than an inanimate corpse.

There's another saying, about opposites attracting. They say the gods envied mortals because they were such; they could die and we, the immortal, could not. Because for them, time meant something. Time was precious. They truly lived, while the all-powerful simply continued through the motions, and that's what fascinated them with each other so much. An immortal lusting after a mortal is the ultimate embodiment of the idea that opposites attract. Through sheer fucking boredom and on power trips of a megalomaniac scale most comparable to the size of the universe, we tricked mortals into believing we were meant to be worshiped instead of just feared as a result. The children of the light caught on eventually, of fucking course. But unlike us— those who wore our dark hearts on our sleeves—, they hid their dark desires under a veil of lies. Sweet, disgusting fucking lies. The word 'angel' gives me such an awful taste in my mouth that I refuse to address them as such, but that's an entirely different train of thought.

It's all I can think about when I return to the city, so when the Council arrives I let Boris deal with their bullshit-ocracy and think instead of the filthy priest shackled in the basement of my safe-house. I can't get his idiotic face out of my head, even when ten of the most powerful vampires on the fucking planet are all on the same continent as myself. For all the wisdom I've gained in recent times I'm still full on the power trip the Inca so graciously sent me on. Not that it's all in my head; I bet I could kill at least six of them before the remaining integer had any chance of killing me. Knowing my luck I'd get through nine of them just to be slaughtered by the tenth.

I can hear them complain, feel their rage swell at my choice not to heed them seeping up through the cold penthouse and into my being. For a brief moment I'm almost sorry to send Boris into such a hostile situation. No amount of witch hunts experienced can compare one for being on the bad side of the Council.

They aren't angry with him, though. They're angry with me. Oh, well. I guess you blame it on the fact that I'm bored to fucking death, but for the most part I'm just sick of their petty judgement. Maybe this system worked a long time ago, before they became jaded and full of themselves. That's the problem; there's no election system, no limit to their term as Council member, no way to impeach them without being strong enough to kill them. Even then it'd be a flawed system— the humans sure proved that to us, but at least these crazy motherfuckers wouldn't be here trying to tell me what I can and can't do with my personal life, prepared with centuries of experience in the art of fucked up methods. Something about my human servant, for the nth time.

"Whatever," I mutter under my breath, into the darkness of room.

I didn't turn any lights on, but the whole room glows with city lights coming from the floor-to-ceiling windows. I wanted to wallow in the darkness childishly, but in the middle of a city that never sleeps it's impossible. It makes my thoughts of the safe-house all the more sweet. Even if my prisoner is insufferable. His heartbeat is obnoxiously loud. He smells sickeningly sweet of earth and blood and it accompanies the displeasing sound his beating organ makes throughout the entire house. Worst of all, he's so fucking clueless. What is the Dark Order even teaching their priests?

Try as hard as I might, I still want to go back. There's a certain presence in his eyes that I haven't gotten enough yet. An impossible mix of blue and green I've only seen belong to were-kind. Even then their eyes never shone like that in human form, unless they spent too much time as beasts. That wasn't Eren Yeager's case, though. They were just that pretty.

_Pretty? Am I really thinking this bullshit right now?_

Yeah, I guess I am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have too much fun writing potty-mouthed Levi monologues.


	5. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren digs himself into a deeper hole.

Petra stayed true to her word and returned later with a blanket and food. She made no attempt to ask me how I was feeling and I wouldn't have replied even if she had, still more than a little pissed at her meddling with my emotions. The food, however, was tastier than anything Mikasa had ever attempted to make for Hannes and I over the years, and I uttered a quiet 'thank you' in spite of my anger. She gave me a weak smile before she returned upstairs, leaving me to wonder if the urge to ask if she was alright was my own or spurred on by her wiles. I didn't spend much time on it; the hot food paired with the powerful painkillers put me out like a light.

For a few moments I thought this was really bad. Again. I shouldn't let my guard down and sleep. But everything I'd done to get to this point was starting to seem like a huge miscalculation on my part, and whether or not I was going to die here was already decided. As sleep claimed me again I silently hoped that if I died, my death wouldn't be meaningless.

I don't know how long I slept, but woke to the sound of a door slamming shut upstairs. Waking up in the basement didn't surprise me this time. It was colder so I pulled the blanket over my shoulders and brought my knees up to my chest as I leaned up against the wall again. Hushed voices traveled through the floorboards but none of the words were audible enough for me to decipher, and after what sounded like a tense moment above, the Master descended into the basement.

Levi's presence was darker than it was before. Something worse than his impatience with me was looming over his head and almost seemed to manifest above him like an ominous rain cloud. He sat in the same chair as before and spent a few minutes staring holes into the floor before even returning my gaze.

"How are you feeling?"

The question caught me off guard and I moved to cross my legs, hugging the blanket around my shoulders more tightly. "Okay, I guess. You?" The corner of his lips twitched at that. "You seem to be in a bad mood."

"Yeah," he said lowly, raising his feet off the ground and wrapping his arms around them. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you better answer them honestly."

_Yeah, sure. You can't even get inside my head._

Levi's eyes narrowed and I remembered what he said about my expression. "Are you here alone?"

"Yes," I sighed.

"Did the Dark Order prompt this?"

"No."

The Master straightened up from his slouched position at my answer, his brow momentarily furrowing in thought. That was the only thing I could tell; everything else he hid, and he hid it well. His eyes were still on me but they looked right through me. He was seeing something far away from here.

Without warning he stood up to leave, and just like the last time stopped a beat later, but it took a moment longer for him to do so. When he turned on his heels to face me again that thoughtful look was still clear on his brow and it unnerved me to some degree, whatever amount of nerves I still had left beginning to dwindle into infinitesimal numbers. "You're not going to die here, Eren Yeager. Not by my hands or orders, at the very least. I give you my word."

"Why?" I interjected, feeling the familiar pang of anger swelling inside my chest.

"Asking too many stupid fucking questions—"

"No!" I fought to keep from clenching my teeth, and failed to some degree, forcing the words from my lips with more than a little effort. "I might be not be the smartest but I know what that look on your face means, that silence. I attempted to kill you, I trespassed on your," _fuck is that hard to say,_ "property to do so. There's more to this. There's no reason to keep me like this unless you plan to torture or kill me. This collar means you're keeping me for something."

The corners of his lips jerked at that.

"Oh?" He closed the distance between us with delicate steps, crouching before me with a dark shadow in his eyes. I opted to look away from his face, but maybe that's a mistake because _wow_ that's an expensive, well-tailored suit, and I'm impressed. _Impressed?_ Yeah, I am.

"Unless I plan to torture or kill you?" he murmured then, drawing me from my thoughts; I flicked my gaze upwards again and swallowed thickly, suddenly feeling uneasy. "Well, I just said I wouldn't order your death, or kill you with my own hands, and I'm a proper vampire who keeps his word." At some point he'd moved his hand but I didn't notice until one extended fingertip traced up my throat and up to the spot beneath my chin, tilting my head back at uncomfortable angle. "That only leaves me one option, huh?"

"How else will you get your sick amusement?"

There's no mistaking the twitch I'd seen earlier. He was smirking then, because I saw that twitch again. I saw clearly the curve of his lips that followed.

"Are you a masochist, Eren Yeager?"

The way the words sound make my stomach do flips. That dark shadow in his eyes was still there, but now it felt... _warm?_ Maybe, if only a little bit. Something stirred in them that I wasn't sure I wanted to know about.

"What do you mean?" I managed to say without stuttering, desperately clutching around my insides for a reserve of rage that would make my unease fade into the background.

"Pain, you fucking brat. Suffering, humiliation, shit like that gets you going." His hand moved in a swift motion to capture my neck in its hold, squeezing just below my jaw hard enough to part my lips and feel a sensation like choking but not quite. "Yeah, I bet you are. You just don't know it yet. Just like so many other things."

His grip loosened as he chuckled and I couldn't help the growl leaving my throat when I shoved that hand into his chest, hard enough to make him stumble in his crouch. "You disgust me, freak."

A look passed through his eyes that I couldn't quite catch. "Careful with that mouth of yours, pathetic priest."

Whatever warmth had been there was gone now. I watched him stand and leave the room without another word. I'd pressed my luck enough as it was; something about the way he said those last few words, how dirty _masochist_ sounded on his tongue, made me more apprehensive about testing him. And that alone was enough to warm me with anger. Somewhere between him getting up and leaving the blanket had fallen from my bare shoulders, but I was warmed by the heat in my stomach now.

"Fuck off, _Master_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dying over here bye.
> 
> Deciding to write the whole thing in first person, aside from the first chapter, by the way. Yeah I know, I got too excited and posted this before I gave it proper thought. I like third person but it feels a bit awkward for the style my mind wants to write this in. Working on re-writing the second and third chapter at the moment though I really just want to keep marching forward. Also, I now track the tag "fic: star crossed" and my tumblr is whoa-taku.


	6. Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Went back and did a little post-editing, nothing crucial, just correcting tenses and changing a word or two that was bugging me. Still haven't made much progress in rewriting the two chapters I'm meaning to, but I figured a new chapter was a bigger priority. So here you go kiddies.

 

_Petra_

Eren wasn't happy with me. Not that I expected him to be anyway, but it still made my heart ache. The moment my eyes fell on the figure curled up on the basement floor I felt responsible for making the best out of the unfavorable situation. I think Levi felt like that too. There was something special about Eren, although our personal reasons for believing so veered off into different directions.

There was one crucial piece to the puzzle for both of us, however, and that piece was Eren's father. It had something to do with Grisha and what happened thirteen years ago, but it was more than that. Levi was perpetually bothered by Grisha's existence and the fact that no one really knew where he was; not even the network of spies he had at his command could come up with any bit of information that might be helpful. Most of it was just dead ends. It really did seem as if Grisha was gone forever, but unless Levi found unquestionable proof— or even better, his lifeless corpse— he wouldn't consider things settled. To him, this was the eye of the storm, and at any moment it would pass.

Eren's appearance startled him, renewed his fears that Grisha would return, and to top it all off the Council was in town. I couldn't help but feel like everything was my fault, as I almost always felt. Levi wouldn't hear of it though. But maybe, _just_ maybe, it was.

_We want to see Grisha._

A headache settled in as the night progressed. I rubbed at my temples and sat at the kitchen island, listening to the comforting sounds of Eren sleeping below. The house had always seemed empty before, even a bit strange, but with the priest below things had changed. It felt a little warmer, a little more like a _home_ instead of just a house. If I didn't know any better I might have chalked it up to the fact that he was another living human being, just like me, and he offered a kind of warmth that Levi gave up long ago.

Maybe I missed hearing another heart beat on its own accord.

Levi was supposed to return by midnight, but I knew he wouldn't. It was three in the morning when I heard tires dig into the gravel driveway. His feet fell a little heavier than usual, a clear sign that he was upset. When he sat down in one of the bar stools around the island he asked me to prepare him a cup of tea, and I obliged. Drinking tea was something Levi had grown accustomed to long ago, and though with a human servant he regained his ability to actually _taste_ food and drink he rarely did either. Food was for pleasure, something he was careful not to indulge in. But he only drank when he was upset; I frowned as I filled the kettle with water.

"Was it really that bad?"

"They're demanding I show my face and explain my defiance. They might have threatened to force me out of my position as Master had I expressed anything other than disdain for the title." He sighed then. "There was talk of a severance ritual."

_Severance ritual?_

"Really? An official one?"

He nodded, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Maybe not at the court, just as long as three or more of them are present. They care deeply but not enough to follow tradition to the tee— they want it done quickly. They're terrified; they only talk so stiffly when they're confident, or afraid, and they certainly aren't confident about any of this." Levi paused and carded his fingers through his hair before staring blankly across the room. "They weren't happy with me at all," he muttered when the kettle reached temperature.

"Did you actually talk with them or did you make Boris do it again?" I glanced over my shoulder before pouring the water into the pot; his answer showed on his face in the slightest twitch of his eyebrow. It made me smile. "You'll only make them angrier if you keep doing things like that."

"Let them be angry," he finally answered as I let the loose leaves steep. The statement hung heavy in the air as I waited, and though I desperately wanted to say something, I couldn't think of anything worth saying.

Three minutes passed as the silence filled the room tensely, interrupted only by the clatter of the tea cup and the pour of its contents. I placed it before him and he picked it up in the same awkward position as always, fingers gripping around the rim as he brought it upwards and sipped its contents. A certain kind of authority colored his tone when he spoke again, "I have no intention of agreeing to the severance ritual. You know just as well as I do what will happen once I do."

"They won't listen to you about it at all?" He shook his head and downed the rest of his tea in one slow, graceful motion. I added very quietly, "Is it really worth the trouble, to deny them?"

" _No._ "

The tone of his voice in that single syllable left no room for argument, and maybe even expressed pain knowing that I would suggest such a thing. I forced my doubt back into the deepest, darkest parts of my mind. He left shortly afterwards and said nothing else. Out of respect for him I made sure not to eavesdrop on his conversation with the priest below and rinsed the tea pot and cup. I tried even harder not to think about the Council.

Fifteen minutes later, Levi returned from the basement.

"Might be a good idea to fetch him a cot, or something," he conceded as he stood between the foyer and the living room. I peered up at him under a cocoon of blankets, behind a book, and saw something in his expression that hadn't been there earlier. "I'm going to take a bath."

"Alright, Levi. I'll be here."

He headed upstairs before I even finished my sentence. I smiled wistfully to myself and silently forgave him for his rudeness. Not that he meant to be rude. Levi tended to be like that, and I was never bothered by it. Underneath every hard layer of bad manners and moods, there was a sweet core. He was capable of more than just scowls and smirks.

The sunrise caught me by surprise, but I could pinpoint exactly when it happened; I felt Levi's warm body become nothing but a corpse, a vessel empty of all essence until the sun fell again. Now was as good a time as any to start the day and take care of errands. That Levi would even bother to give Eren a collar and ask me to prepare sleeping arrangements of any kind was indication enough that I'd be taking care of someone other than myself, and perhaps for quite some time. My motherly instincts kicked in and suddenly the nearly bare pantry seemed criminal to me.

"Maybe breakfast first," I murmured to myself, placing a bookmark between the pages before me and setting the book aside. "Ah, no, coffee. Coffee first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for plot development!
> 
> I've got a job now so updating might not happen all that often, and I really do have trouble with long term projects, sighs loudly, but I really do want to finish this. Anyways wow thank you're all beautiful mwuah.


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